Galesburg Reporter

With a new year comes a new tax season and state Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) has reminded her constituents that it's almost time to start filing your federal and state income tax returns.

Taxpayers in Illinois will be able to file their tax return earlier than they did in 2021.

"Illinoisans can begin filing their 2021 income tax returns at the end of this month," Tracy wrote in her Senate Week in Review. "This year's tax filing season will begin Jan. 24, which is 17 days earlier than last year."

Tracy also warned that it might take some time to get your refund in light of the recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases happening across the country, 

"The federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning with the resurgence of COVID-19, there could be some refund or processing delays," Tracy said.

According to Forbes, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig has suggested that individuals file electronically instead of using a paper tax return, and that they may want to use direct deposit as a way to avoid potential delays in receiving a refund.

"The deadline for filing individual income tax returns is April 18," Tracy wrote on her website. "The IRS says they anticipate most taxpayers to receive funding within 21 days of electronically filing."

Tracy added the IRS also recommends reporting any stimulus payments or Advanced Child Tax Credit monies received during 2021 to avoid delays.

The website Kiplinger has published a list of various IRS deadlines for 2022. Some of the due dates have been extended for people who were recently impacted by major natural disasters. 

CBS News reported that the IRS had a backlog of 6 million unprocessed individual returns as of December 23, 2021. That number was a significant decrease from the 30 million unprocessed returns in May, but still higher than usual for this time of the year.